James Cotten

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James Cotten (born on February 12, 1974 in Fort Smith, Arkansas)^[1] is an actor and film director.

[edit] Early life

Following his 8th grade year in Arkansas, his parents moved to Sallisaw, Oklahoma where they owned a movie rental store. James, known as "Jay" or "JJ" to his friends, quickly became known as a novice movie director making films for classes in high school.

After high school, James moved to North Carolina and tried his hand at professional wrestling. After a year or training, James turned his eye on acting and directing. He had many stand in roles in movies such as The Tuskegee Airmen (1995),^[2] How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998),^[3] and on an episode of Frasier.

[edit] Film career

While attending The Los Angeles Film School in 2004, Cotten studied cinematography with many working professionals: Rex Metz (SWAT, I Spy), David Klein (Chasing Amy, Clerks II), and Michael Barrett (CSI, Bobby, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). He studied Production Design with Lawrence Paull (Blade Runner, Escape from LA, Unlawful Entry) and Direction with Paul Verhoven (Robocop, Starship Troopers), Donald Petrie (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Miss Congeniality), Danielle Suissa (Pocahontas, Neowolf), and Brad Battersby (Red Letters, Jesus the Driver).^[4]

Shortly after graduating from the L.A. Film School, Cotten directed a Roger Corman film called Demon Slayer. With that experience, Cotten worked on other movies and set out to make his own movies.^[5] The movie was released direct to DVD in 2003.^[6] It currently appears on the Sci-Fi Channel.

After completion of Demon Slayer, James returned to Van Buren, Arkansas and formed Dark Highway Films, an independent film company that produced its first direct to video release in 2007. Sugar Creek is a low budget film that is part fairy tale/morality tale and part horror/Western. The story of Adam, as he is hunted by a mysterious Horseman through a valley where men do hateful things because they've had hateful things done to them, is the story of revenge and redemption, and the irony in between.^[7] Sugar Creek was nominated at the Bare Bones International Film Festival for Best Drama/Thriller. Its direct to DVD release was on July 24, 2007. During the initial stages of Sugar Creek, James also had an acting role opposite Ashley Judd in Come Early Morning, playing an angry past lover.

[edit] Notes